The fundamental basis for atheism is a false belief that humans can control their own lives and do not need God. Atheists are people who have not discovered God’s existence or have intentionally denied it.
Uncreated Himself, God is the cause and creator of everything. Since He is not part of his own creation, He is unable to be detected by scientific methods or observed by the senses.
There are many good reasons to believe that God exists and the need to worship God is programmed into the design of every human being. Atheism tries to ignore or cover up this deep longing that creatures have for their Creator.
Denying the existence of God is a sin against the virtue of religion and breaks the First Commandment to worship one God.
When God is rejected, people will turn to something less than God to worship. This only leads to unfulfillment and suffering because nothing can meet the needs that only God can satisfy.
Atheism has many forms, some more serious than others, and atheists give different practical and moral reasons for their lack of belief.
Agnosticism may refer to either indifference or uncertainty about God. Agnostics stop short of denying that God exists and often state that whether or not He exists cannot be affirmed or denied.
Atheists and agnostics have a false idea of who God is. Since the concept of God that they have in their minds is flawed, they do not believe that an all-knowing and all-powerful God exists.
Some Catholics and other Christians can unwittingly contribute to atheism by not understanding their own faith, sharing it poorly, or not living out their faith.
Catholics should be prepared for challenges to their faith and should confidently respond to atheists and agnostics in a way that resonates with people who do not share the same beliefs.
The question of God’s existence is an important one:
The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from Heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what He has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give Him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.
Romans 1: 18-21
Atheists deny that there is evidence that God exists:
Atheism masks the desire for God:
The arguments of atheists do not make sense:
It is impossible to worship nothing:
The word atheism is applied to phenomena which are quite distinct from one another. For while God is expressly denied by some, others believe that man can assert absolutely nothing about Him. Still others use such a method to scrutinize the question of God as to make it seem devoid of meaning. Many, unduly transgressing the limits of the positive sciences, contend that everything can be explained by this kind of scientific reasoning alone, or by contrast, they altogether disallow that there is any absolute truth. Some laud man so extravagantly that their faith in God lapses into a kind of anemia, though they seem more inclined to affirm man than to deny God. Again some form for themselves such a fallacious idea of God that when they repudiate this figment they are by no means rejecting the God of the Gospel. Some never get to the point of raising questions about God, since they seem to experience no religious stirrings nor do they see why they should trouble themselves about religion.
Pope Paul VI, Gaudium et Spes, 7 December 1965
The God that many atheists argue against does not exist:
God is more than what atheists think He is:
Atheism is often based on a false conception of human autonomy, exaggerated to the point of refusing any dependence on God. Yet, “to acknowledge God is in no way to oppose the dignity of man, since such dignity is grounded and brought to perfection in God. . . . ” “For the Church knows full well that her message is in harmony with the most secret desires of the human heart.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2126
Catholics have a responsibility to respond to atheism:
Pursue the truth when talking with atheists:
Some of the greatest future saints are atheists now:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Becoming a Catholic monk after growing up atheist:
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